Paperboard carriers used to hold beverage cans and bottles must be strong enough to withstand the stresses of lifting, carrying and handling without tearing or separating. Because beverage containers are often quite heavy, it has become desirable to test carriers of new design to make sure they are able to remain intact during their life. For this reason testing methods and equipment have been devised to determine the failing point of carriers. This has also provided a reliable tool for use in quality control in the manufacture of the carriers and has enabled minimum physical standards to be established for carriers. An example of an effective centrifugal test device can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,553,438 which discloses a device for receiving a loaded carrier and connecting it to a force gauge by an attachment that fits into the handle of the carrier. When the carrier fails during rotation of the carrier support, either by tearing of the paperboard or separation of the mechanical or adhesive flap locking means, the beverage containers are thrown outwardly against an end wall on the support, and the force to which the carrier was subjected at this time is recorded on the gauge.
In addition to the failure of a carrier as the cause of its contents falling out, the contents of an open-ended carrier can also escape through an open end of the carrier, such as by rapidly swinging the carrier in an arc. Such carriers consist of top and bottom panels connected by side panels, with the ends of the carrier being open. The cans or bottles in the carrier are normally held in place by the carrier being tightly wrapped around them and by openings in the side panels through which portions of the container bottoms extend. In the case of cans, the side panels may also contain openings adjacent the top panel through which portions of the upper edges of the cans extend. Through unusually harsh handling or through normal handling of carriers which have been weakened by moist conditions, it is sometimes possible for the containers to be thrown out one of the open ends.
It would be desirable to be able to quantify the failure or inability of open-ended carriers to prevent their packaged containers from being thrown out an open end. The test apparatus described above, however, is not designed to carry out such a test procedure, nor is a suitable test method or test equipment available for this purpose. It is a main purpose of this invention to provide such a method and apparatus.